The Humanity of Enjolras
by lookcloserhere
Summary: Eponine catches Enjolras at a moment of weakness and realizes he's not the man she thought he was.


The barricade stood high, citizens had thrown things into the street, haphazardly stacked in the road before the Café. Eponine had returned early with the letter for Marius from Cosette. She didn't know where he had run off to so she hid in the shadows waiting for him to return. Wandering Eponine dodged a chair that flew past her head, Enjolras the leader in the revolution had caught it before it hit the ground, looking at her with contemplation.

Before he could say anything she flitted off , winding down the small streets. The letter in her hand seemed to burn her, she daren't read it, she'd feel guilty for sneaking a look at something that wasn't meant for her to read. It was for Marius. And that was what was so difficult about it.

She decided while she waited for him to return the letter would live in her pocket as to remove any more temptation. Eponine looked around her, she had found her way back to the barricade without even trying to. There were a few men sitting around, some of them awkwardly holding guns. She wouldn't be surprised if they hadn't even held one before. A sinking feeling hit her hard in the chest. How would they live through this?

They held faith, the leader Enjolras had a plan... though against the men, the soldiers they would be fighting...

Backing away Eponine decided to hide again, she didn't want to look at the barricade unless she had to. It brought up too many horrible visions of the ones she knew lying dead, of Marius lying dead. The pit in her stomach grew, a lump welling in her throat. Get it together, Eponine.  
It was getting dim, the sun fading quickly. The barricades would come of to use soon. The tension of the oncoming attack grew with every moment of standing around, so many men walked, pacing back and forth almost in a choreographed dance; moving around each other with ease, not looking up from the ground and their thoughts.

With one more look back at the men Eponine trudged away. The streets of France were small where she was, cramped and filled with men and scarcely any women or children. Eponine wasn't sure of where to go, so she followed a path she knew all too well. It was the street where her brother had first stolen from an unsuspecting man's pocket and succeeded. She could remember now the delight on his face as he bounded away with money in his hands.

She took a left, onto a more narrow alley way that led to the building where her father had once owned, now held upright by some posts and pieces of wood. Another left to the Main Street farther ahead away from the barricade.

Eponine let her mind wander away from her, reigning it in enough so she wouldn't be thinking of the night that surely led ahead of them all. She bumped into someone, tall and strong. With surprise she found it was Enjolras. He looked a bit troubled.

"Sorry, Monsieur!" She gasped, stepping back away from him.

"No harm done, Mademoiselle-"

"Eponine." She interrupted.

"Eponine," he complied, "stay out of the streets tonight." He nodded at her, walking off again into the direction he had been going when they bumped into each other.

"You're not the first to tell me that tonight, Monsieur." She whispered after him. She decided to walk in that direction too, for if she turned the other way she'd be back at the barricade and that was the one place that she, at the moment, was trying to avoid.

Enjolras had already disappeared, in the few seconds it had taken her to choose where to go he fell out of her sight. Well enough, he would remind her of Marius, and that would bring her back to the thoughts of the letter, and Cosette, and then of course his possible death.  
Wandering she found herself in a place she rarely ever walked, it was usually filled during the day, and then blocked by drunk men at night. At some point it led to a dead end, she knew then she'd have to turn around and walk some other way. She didn't think she could stay still for very long.

She was almost to the end when it happened. First she heard a noise she had never heard before, unable to understand what it was she crept to the edge of the building to her left. Walking quietly Eponine moved closer to what it was. And she found, yet again, Enjolras.  
He was sitting on the ground, almost as if he had collapsed. Next to him was a chair that he held on to with one hand. The other was pressed to his face, his blonde hair hanging over his fingers blocking her view slightly.

That was when she realized what she was seeing, he was crying. The man of the revolution, the one they all looked up to, the one who would be at the front lines guiding them all on... Was crying.  
His shoulders sagged, Enjolras wept. The sight shocked Eponine, he had always come off to her as being brave. Like stone, a man who no one could hurt. And yet here he was, seeming... Human. His humanity rang through him, he was afraid. Terrified of the night to come, realizing now even as the battle hadn't even began that the probabilities of them winning were almost nothing. Eponine realized what pressure he must feel, having all their lives on his shoulders. He was leading them to their deaths, and it was too much for him.

Her heart seemed to ache, how insignificant her problems seemed compared to his.  
Eponine wasn't sure of what to do. To go up to him meant that his pride would be shot. But to stay behind would mean that he would sit there, feeling the pressure of what was to come all on his own. She knew that the chances of them all surviving were nearly laughable, but if they did survive this night would lay around them forever.

Turning away, Eponine walked back down the alley, knowing that no matter what she would do he would have to face it alone. She could help him, comfort him, but that would mean telling him she had been following him, and seen him crying. Something she knew he wouldn't want to admit.

The sight had brought something else into Eponine she hadn't expected. She saw Enjolras in a new light, a true leader to them all. Maybe, just maybe, her heart felt something else other than just compassion for his pain. What she had seen had changed something in herself, the moment of weakness showed that he wasn't some sort of crazy man who hadn't any feelings. Enjolras their leader... was human.


End file.
